I'm not exaggerating when I say that summer in our neck of the woods is glorious. GLORIOUS.

We live in the mountains of Colorado, and after a long, cold and snowy winter, the summer up here is like the vacation you've been planning for the past six months. Don't get me wrong — people like us live up here because we love all of the seasons, even the muddier ones. But summer is like our big chance to stop layering our clothing quite as severely, saunter about in flip flops for weeks on end and spend as much time outside — morning, noon and night — as possible.

So let's talk about new ways to drink tea in the summer, shall we? Last summer we had an adventurous romp creating several fruity, tea-inspired drinks, and it was really fun. This summer we found ourselves with a bit less time, but a desire to be creative. Things got busy, we didn't want to haul out the blender, and we definitely weren't going to just grab a sugar-laden "sweet tea" or whatever is in the supermarket that is supposed to quench our summer thirst.

But what really caught our attention was a simple project that our CEO and founder's lovely wife, Pam, whipped up the other day and took inspiring photos of: tea ice cubes! Just look at these photos and nod with us in agreement.

So, which tea will you steep and turn into ice cubes? It depends on what color and flavor you're looking to impart into whatever drink you're preparing. For a bit of astringency in a pretty light green, try Organic Tamayokucha. Green with a tropical vibe? Tropical Green. Pam warns us that while she loves ice cubes made out of Alpine Berry, that tea is a deep red and will turn whatever liquid you add to those cubes the same color — but she's also got a penchant for bourbon poured over Alpine Berry ice cubes.

And — ooh, we just thought of this — what if you serve your guests lemonade, but pour it over Organic Assam ice cubes, so they more the cubes melt, the more they have a little Arnold Palmer flavor?

(You can easily Google and find little round ice cube trays like Pam used, but we found some really awesome shapes, including anchors and tropical fish right here.)

Experiment and have fun! This is summer, after all, and we can all be a bit more casual about tea drinking in the warmer months, can't we? Tell us how it goes if you try one ...